World Golf Tour

Slowing playing the Solheim Cup

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SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – If you thought the pace of play Friday at the Solheim Cup was glacial, you weren’t alone.

The first morning fourballs match took 5 hours and 48 minutes to complete.

The last group finished in six hours, pushing back the start of the afternoon foursomes, which began at 2:25 p.m. local time instead of 1:45, as scheduled. There’s a possibility play won’t be completed before dark.

Doug Brecht, the LPGA’s vice president of rules and officials, said the first group (Americans Paula Creamer/Cristie Kerr and Europeans Suzann Pettersen/Sophie Gustafson) was given a slow play warning on the 10th tee. LPGA pace of play rules apply. If players don’t speed up after a warning, they are put on the clock. If a player fails to keep pace with the clock, the penalty in match play is loss of a hole.

“It’s a little bit slow, but it’s fourballs and it’s going to be slow,” Kerr said. “It’s just the nature of it. We were all slow at times.”

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Mell, a senior writer, is a 30-year veteran and covers the PGA and LPGA tours for Golf Channel.